THE UNITED States accused the Philippines Friday of failing to keep its word
of honor and breaking its international commitment by yielding to Iraqi
gunmen's demand to pull out its contingent from Iraq.

Worse, a US diplomat seemed to suggest, would any one now trust the
Philippines to keep its word in case it found itself in another fix?

"I think it's important to reassess the relationship because a commitment
was broken," US Embassy Charge d'Affaires Joseph Mussomeli said in an
interview on GMA Network radio station dzBB.

"Whatever the reasons, however good these reasons were, it is not just
the United States but, frankly, the entire international community, even the
ones who agreed with what the Philippines did, would be worried now that
they'd never know when the Philippine government may back down on its word if
a Filipino is endangered."

In Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Philippines paid
"a very high price" for succumbing to the captors of truck driver
Angelo de la Cruz, whom the Iraqi militants threatened to behead if the
country did not withdraw its troops.

"In effect, kidnappers were rewarded for kidnapping," Powell said
after meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart, Solomon Passy.

"They were paid off. They made a demand, a political demand against the
Philippine government, which the Philippine government, a sovereign
government, decided that it had to meet.

Down a slippery slope

"When you start meeting the demands of kidnappers, I think you're going
down a very bad and slippery slope, which incentivizes kidnappings," said
Powell.

"We were very disappointed in the actions of the Philippine
government," Powell said. "I'm pleased that the Filipino gentleman
was returned home safely, but I think a very high price was paid for the
policy position that the Philippine government took."

Asked what repercussions the action might have on US-Philippine relations,
Powell said "the Philippine nation and the Philippine people are allies
of the United States, friends of the United States, and we have been for many,
many years.

"But friends can have disagreements. And those disagreements have to be
worked out eventually."

Praise for Bulgaria

Powell hailed the Bulgarian decision not to accede to a similar demand by
kidnappers, who killed one Bulgarian hostage and were threatening to kill a
second unless Bulgaria's 470 troops were withdrawn from Iraq within 24 hours.

"I just want to thank the Bulgarian government, the minister, and the
Bulgarian people for their clear understanding of how you have to deal with
this kind of situation, and for their strong support," Powell said.

Mussomeli said the issue was not whether the war in Iraq was good or bad or
whether the Philippine troops should have left or not.

"The issue is whether once you make a commitment to do something, you
follow through with it," he said.

He also said: "We are, as an ally, disappointed that a commitment that
was made was not kept."

Ms Arroyo has said she did not regret the decision she took and that she
assumed full responsibility for it.

Washington will decide

Mussomeli said US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, who has left for Washington
for consultations, was not called back by Washington but that he, himself,
"volunteered" to go back to the US.

"The people in Washington will be the ones making decisions, reassessing
bilateral relations. (They will) have the opportunity to hear from Ambassador
Ricciardone what's it like in the Philippines, what the Philippines' views are
in the whole situation," Mussomeli said.

He said that the whole point of the consultations "is
not to punish the Philippines in any way."

A silver lining

"We need to find ways that the bilateral relationship continues and
grows," Mussomeli said. "I think the bottom line will be that this
is a maturing relationship. There cold be a silver lining to this whole
crisis, that we are showing that we could disagree on an important issue and
still move on and still be friends."

Mussomeli said the US understood that Filipino interests should always come
first, just as American interests always came first for the US.

"We would only disagree that frankly, in the long run, giving in to
terrorists is against the most important Philippine interests. And while we're
all grateful Angelo is now free, we worry for the thousands and thousands of
other Filipino workers who are, we believe, in greater danger now because of
this concession to the terrorists," he said.

Mussomeli said the current situation was different from that in 1991, when the
Philippine government decided to close down the US military bases.

"I don't envision anything like what happened in the early '90s. And
frankly what happened in the early '90s was good for the Philippines. It was a
maturing process for both the Americans and the Filipinos to have a more equal
and balanced relationship," he said. "

'Bled together for years'

"It was tough for a few years but all in all I think it helped mature the
relationship in the long run, that the bases were closed and we moved on from
there."

The diplomat echoed Ms Arroyo's words at the Department of Foreign Affairs on
Friday that the Philippines and the US would remain allies.

"The Filipinos and Americans have been together for over a hundred years.
We have fought together, we have fought against each other...against other
enemies. We have bled together, we have laughed and cried together. This is
not going to end," he said.

People-to-people ties

"We are bound by all sorts of emotional, political and people-to-people
ties. So yes, we are going to remain very good friends even if we argue.
Because that's what good friends do sometimes."

Reacting to foreign criticisms of the Philippine pullout from Iraq, Defense
Secretary Eduardo Ermita said: "He (De la Cruz) is the symbol of the
Filipino people. How can you explain that to foreigners?"